From 29th February to 3rd March 2016, Htay Ei Ei, MEC Education Manager, Amanda Seel, MEC Education Adviser and Aung Ko Oo of the Monastic Education Development Group (MEDG) attended “Making Systems Work: A Global Conference on Education Systems” funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the World Bank.

The MEC team joined members of DFAT and the Myanmar Ministry of Education (MoE). The conference brought together an international audience of education stakeholders, including policy makers, practitioners, academics and researchers, to explore ideas and learn of the latest research around strengthening education systems.

The various presentations and discussions focused on the many ways in which ‘Learning for All’ requires ‘All for Learning’ and the need to address many elements of education systems in a coherent way, whilst always keeping learning at the centre.

The MEC/MEDG team were perhaps the only participants focusing on how to strengthen complementary and non-government systems and on the final day had the opportunity to share information with the other participants, about ethnic and monastic education in Myanmar. The conference was followed by a study tour to learn more about the education systems of New South Wales and their frameworks to support school improvement, teacher quality and including diverse communities.